Abu Dhabi

5am alarm. Tony gets up. Wednesday 22nd October. It won’t be light for over 2 hours. We walk to the station, noticing several homeless people asleep under the porticos. First ones we have seen in Italy. Train to the airport. We have a while so find the (shared) lounge for breakfast as we are flying with Etihad again, the reverse of the trip over.
The flight is very comfortable. During the late lunch Tony tried to have a different (delicious) wine with every (delicious) course; and succeeded. We had been doing some research for Abu Dhabi. Best way to handle airport transfers to our hotel. In the end we went for convenience. Taxi. Proves to be a good choice. Taxis in Abu Dhabi are clean, quick, plentiful and very, very reasonably priced. We used them a lot.
We have a 2-night stopover offered by Etihad. We are staying at the Novel Hotel in town. Not 5-star but on our last day they offer an 8pm checkout which is excellent as we have a late flight to Manila.
For something different tonight we eat in the hotel’s Chinese restaurant. The room looked a bit off-putting but the food was nice. Next day we wanted to do an evening city tour, but they couldn’t fit us in.
So, quick look at the best things to do in Abu Dhabi (which aren’t on tomorrow’s tour). We chose the aquarium and Etihad Towers. Everything is a long way here, so this all took longer than one would expect. We really enjoyed the aquarium, particularly the large group of very noisy kids, all well under 1m tall.
What we particularly noticed is that Abu Dhabi is HOT. During our stay the temperature varies between 30° and 33° C. Our guide tells us we are lucky. A few weeks ago the temperatures were well into the 40s. There are only about 3 months of reasonable temperatures (ie 30s). The rest of the year is 40s and 50s.
After the fish we taxied to Etihad Towers, a forest (notice the collective noun) of 5 skyscrapers, the tallest of which is a Conrad Hotel. From their website: “five stunning towers that sparkle iridescently in the never-ending sunshine, Etihad Towers is a reflection of everything that Abu Dhabi is and will be: Modern, Sophisticated and Luxurious”. The towers were constructed from 2006 to 2012 under the direction of Australian architects, DBI Design. We caught the lift to the 75th level of Tower 2 which is called Observation Deck at 300. The tower is just over 300m high and offers, as you would expect, stunning views.
Now it’s time for lunch. Local cuisine. Ursula finds Syrian Flower Grills a short taxi ride away. Spartan décor and several busy cooks. Looks like any of the Sydney Middle Eastern restaurants before they became trendy. Really nice food. We ordered too much. Really nicely priced. No tourists, just us and a few locals. It was only a half hour (hot) walk from here to our Novel Hotel.
In order to maximise our time in Abu Dhabi Ursula found one of the best rooftop bars in town; on top of the Marriott Hotel. Lovely night time view. Nice experience.
Tony found for dinner the highly rated Al Farah restaurant only a short walk from the Novel. Hard to enter; a waiter took us from the takeaway section to the secluded lift. Once again lovely Arabic food and we ordered too much.
Another early start on Friday 24th October for the half day city tour. First the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Everything is completely over the top in scale and opulence. Gold and marble; mosaics; air-conditioning, pools. There’s the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet in the main prayer hall. Took 1200 artisans about 2 years to make it (from wool). Area is about 5400 sq m (over an acre) and it weighs 35 tonnes. There are shallow splits in lines right across to show the faithful where to put their knees. The mosque can accommodate over 40,000 worshippers at one time. 7,000 in the main prayer hall.
Next site was the Heritage Village. It sits on Al Kasir Island with an expansive view of the Corniche and Abu Dhabi city. It contains examples of desert, mountain and coastal dwellings from the past and several museums. Interesting to get a look at the Arab culture from before they started utilising their oil reserves and building cities.
The Founder’s Memorial is close by. We are first treated to an uplifting video presentation extolling Sheikh Zayed, the founder of Abu Dhabi. There’s plenty of hyperbole. Tony thinks it is a government sponsored forced addition to the tour. Centrepiece of the Memorial is The Constellation, a 3-dimensional portrait of Sheikh Zayed. It is made of 1325 platonic solids hanging from cables. The portrait is cleverly embedded in the design. One needs to use “active perception” akin to how we see astronomical constellations.
Final stop was the Dates Market to have a look at a real and working part of town. We visited one shop where they display a mind blowing number of date varieties and products. They gave out lots of samples which we enjoyed. We are used to Medjool dates which were there in plenty, a small amount cheaper than at home. There are several other varieties which all tasted fine to us.
Our guide told us several interesting facts about Abu Dhabi. It is very dry. Only about 7 days of rain each year. Annual average under 50mm. Zero crime, so the city is very safe. This is achieved by very severe penalties. There is no income tax. At all. However, they know the oil will run out so are gradually introducing measures to continue government revenue streams. First a 5% VAT was implemented. Then a corporate profits tax. For low-income citizens the government provides free or low-cost housing options. No homelessness. The population of around 4 million has only about 35% UAE nationals. The remainder is made up mostly of people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines. There are lots of man-made islands in the Gulf. One, Al Lulu Island, is directly in front of the city. Over 1000 acres! A lot of the sand was brought from Australia.
The tour delivers us back to the Novel Hotel. We are not so hungry. Dates are filling. However Ursula has found another authentic local eating experience, Armanis BBQ Restaurant and Grill. Close behind the hotel. Filled with locals. No tourists. After a short wait we are delivered to a table and once again order too much delicious Middle Eastern food.
Now it is time to pack and make our way to the airport. The taxi costs about half the fare we pay at home. The Etihad Lounge entertains us until boarding time. Now we fly to Manila then to Sydney, two ‘midnight horror’ flights in a row.Read more